Trust Me
by Follow-The-Firefly
Summary: Who would have thought that one person could change so much? Rated T for drugs, language and bad parents. AkuRoku
1. Miseria Cantare The Beginning

**Disclaimer: If this really happens, I'm not responsible for it. **

**Hallo! It's Xero! I had originally written this story a few months ago, but took it down because it was so bad. This is VERY different from the first time I wrote it. So I hope it's better. Let the deadly tale begin!**

"Axel, get your lazy ass out of bed, yo!"

Axel groaned and rolled over onto his back so that his peridot eyes were now staring at the ivory ceiling. Reno woke Axel up every morning, though some days were more violent than others. Axel remembered one morning when his older brother woke him up by blasting something from Iron Maiden. While Axel liked Iron Maiden, he didn't really want to be jolted awake by them.

"I'm getting there, Reno." Axel sighed, running his fingers through the tangled mess of crimson spikes.

"Come on." Reno said, poking his head through the door. "I'm supposed to meet Rude at his house before work, yo!"

"Why can't you have him meet you here?" Axel wondered as he got out of bed.

"That would be weird since we can walk to work from his house." Reno said before he left.

Axel trudged over to his iHome, where his crimson iPod was resting in the music playing device. While Axel didn't like to be woken up by music, he used music to wake him up. He focused on the guitar chords, forcing himself to remember what each chord was. By thinking about this, he gradually became more attentive and focused. This was especially so if he was listening to music from another country. He'd discovered that Finnish metal and German industrial were great genres to wake up to.

After setting the iPod on shuffle, Axel cycled through the plethora of songs until he found something from Nightwish. It happened to be _The Poet and the Pendulum_, his favourite song from _Dark Passion Play_. He was getting dressed as the song was playing, though he frequently stopped to spin around in a quick circle before returning to the routine. As he screamed some lines towards the end of the song, Reno came in and said, "Can you get any more involved in your music, Axel?"

Axel straightened up, since he'd bent over so that he was practically screaming into his knees. His brother knew how much he loved music. He _was_ the guitarist for his own band, after all.

"You know how much I love Nightwish, Reno." Axel said, crossing to the other side of the room so he could put a silver hoop through his ear.

"Just hurry up, yo." Reno rolled his steel-grey eyes before leaving again.

Axel finished getting dressed and trudged out of his room and into the kitchen. Reno was at the table, reading the newspaper while drinking a cup of coffee.

"You must be addicted, Reno." Axel said, grabbing a carton of cigarettes on the counter and pulling one out.

"Oh, like you aren't addicted to cigarettes, Axel?" Reno raised an eyebrow as he brother lit up the cigarette before taking a drag and blowing smoke through his lips.

"I try not to make a habit of it." Axel shrugged as he flopped down in a chair. "Demyx here yet?"

"Not yet." Reno shook his head. "He probably had to pick up Zexion, yo."

"I'm just glad that Demyx has a boyfriend now." Axel said, balancing the cigarette between his index and middle fingers. "I got kind of tired of him hitting on me."

"I can imagine that would be annoying." Reno nodded. "Why don't you eat something, yo? Won't you get hungry later?"

"Nah, I'm good." Axel took a drag on his cigarette as he shook his head. "I wish school was over."

"It just started last week." Reno looked at his brother in confusion.

"I want out already." Axel said.

"You're getting the senior jitters a bit early, yo." Reno said. "Senior year isn't that great."

"That's before you met Rude." Axel tapped his cigarette into the ash tray before putting it to his lips again.

"You know how I feel about him, yo." Reno glared at his brother. "You'd rather see me with Tseng or Elena, wouldn't you?"

"Elena completely has a thing for Tseng and he's crazy for Aeris." Axel said. "Even though Aeris is my age, he still thinks she's the sexiest thing in the world."

"What about you, Axel?" Reno asked, his steel eyes on his brother.

"What about me?" Axel frowned.

"Found anyone yet?" Reno asked, taking a drink from his coffee.

"I'm not really interested in any of the girls at our school." Axel shrugged.

"You had a thing for Yuna a while ago, yo." Reno pointed out.

"Before she got with Tidus." Axel responded, taking a drag on the cigarette in his hand.

The doorbell rang, signalling the arrival of an annoying teenager and his boyfriend. And indeed when Axel opened the door, he found Demyx and Zexion standing outside the door, Demyx in the arms of the silver-haired teen.

"What took you?" Axel's eyes followed the two as they walked in.

"Apparently we have two new kids going to our school." Zexion replied, for Demyx was listening to something on his iPod. "Twins, by the look of 'em."

"_If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman_?" Demyx sang, jumping in a circle.

"No." Reno, Axel and Zexion said together.

It was as though Demyx didn't hear the redheads. The blonde stared at his boyfriend in horror and said, "Why not, Zexy?!"

"Because you're insane, babe." Zexion pulled the headphones out of Demyx's ears. "Tell Axel about the twins."

"They live in the apartment complex next to yours, Axel." Demyx said. "If I wasn't already so in love with Zexion, I swear I'd go out with one."

"Now I have to watch out for you even more." Zexion rolled his eyes as he pulled the blonde closer to him. "Thanks a lot, honey."

"Wait, when did you see them?" Axel took a drag on his cigarette.

"Just a few minutes ago." Demyx replied. "They must be walking to school."

"Which reminds me..." Reno said, suddenly entering the conversation. "Axel, did you take your meds, yo?"

"Not yet, Reno." Axel stood up and grabbed the bottle of pills from the top of the fridge.

"I still can't believe you have ADD, Axel." Zexion looked very amused.

"You should see him when he's off the meds, yo." Reno looked horrified. "He bounces off the walls."

"Like Demyx?" Zexion asked.

"Not quite that bad." Reno laughed.

"Am I taking you guys to school today?" Axel asked, ignoring his brother.

"Today's the last day." Demyx said.

"You finally got your licence?" Axel faced Zexion, who was still latched to Demyx.

"Yep." Zexion nodded happily.

"About time." Axel threw the pill in his mouth and gulped it down before twisting the cap back on the bottle and placing it back on the top of the fridge. "What time was this? Third?"

"Second." Zexion shook his head. "So I'll be driving my insane boyfriend to school from now on."

"Thank you for that." Axel said, lips forming a smile. "He's such an annoying person to drive with."

"So get going before you're late, yo." Reno said, finishing his coffee and putting the mug in the sink.

"Okay, okay." Axel put out his cigarette and grabbed his guitar and backpack before following the other two out of the apartment.

When he reached his electric blue Mustang, he found Demyx and Zexion already in the back seat. Demyx was talking about how he beat Kairi in _Soul Calibur_, but Zexion didn't look that interested.

"You're boring your boyfriend, you know." Axel said as he threw his guitar back with his passengers.

"I know!" Demyx proclaimed.

"If you say so." Axel said as he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

* * *

"You're nervous, aren't you?"

Sora and Roxas were on their way to school, stomping through the puddles the recent rain had created. The twins had just moved to Twilight Town from Hollow Bastion and were slightly nervous about the thought of going to a new school. Roxas was clearly more nervous about the whole than his brother since his knuckles were white around the guitar case he held.

"Is it that obvious?" Roxas asked.

"Roxas, it'll be okay." Sora assured him. "This is your chance to start over."

"But everyone's going to find out." The fear was obvious in Roxas' voice.

"Not if you don't want them to." Sora said. "You know I won't tell anyone. I know how hard this is for you."

"I'm just waiting for it to develop completely." Roxas said.

"It may not." Sora said, brushing his brown hair from his eyes. "You heard what the doctors said. Just be glad that it's not more advanced."

"Oh, hell yeah." Roxas nodded as they turned a street corner.

"Relax." Sora put his hand on his twin's shoulder. "Everything will be okay. I just don't want you to be a recluse like you've been lately."

"Because of what Setzer did." Roxas said.

"Well, I took care of him." Sora said. "Just try to cheer up, huh? I hate seeing you miserable."

"I'll try." Roxas managed to smile. "No promises, though."

"Just please try." Sora gave his brother a quick hug before saying, "Maybe you'll find a guy here."

"Maybe I don't want to." Roxas said softly.

"You know you're gay." Sora said. "What are you afraid of?"

"I just don't want anyone to find out." Roxas said, looking at his feet as he walked.

"You don't have to tell him." Sora said.

"If I have a boyfriend, I kind of have to tell him." Roxas said. "What if he gets it, Sora?"

"It's transmitted through blood and you know it." Sora said. "As long as you don't bite him..."

"I still don't see how I have it and you don't." Roxas said.

"I dunno, Roxas." Sora shrugged. "I wish you didn't have it, either."

"This is one thing I wouldn't wish on anyone." Roxas shook his head.

"We need to think positively." Sora said. "This is a new chance to start over. We can be ourselves here."

"Unless the school's homophobic." Roxas pointed out.

"That's a good point." Sora said.

"But I don't really care what people will say about the fact that I'm gay." Roxas said.  
"That's a good thing." Sora nodded.

* * *

Axel and Demyx reached their first class a few minutes before the last bell rang. The redhead and the blond had first block Sociology with Xehanort and Zexion had first block AP Linguistics with Barrett. Demyx was rather unhappy about this, but he knew he'd see his boyfriend third block for lunch and American Studies.

"This is kind of boring." Axel had pulled out his guitar and started playing _The Beast and the Harlot._

"Hey, the twins are here." Demyx noted.

Axel looked over to the door and saw a blonde and a brunette enter the room. They only way to tell them apart was by their hair colour. The brunette looked kind of cute, but Axel found his eyes latched onto to blonde.

The blonde looked kind of scared, like he was afraid someone would find out something terrible about him. But what was that something terrible? Hopefully nothing serious. He held his guitar case tightly, his knuckles almost white from the death-grip on the leather strap, showing the fear that was obviously in his mind.

After talking with Xehanort, the twins found their seats. The brunette apparently sat at the opposite end of the room whilst the blonde sat between Axel and Demyx. After sending a concerned look in the direction of his brother, the brunette sat down next to Larxene.

"You new here?" Axel asked as the blonde sat down, setting the guitar case against the wall.

"Yeah." The blonde nodded.

"Where from?" Demyx asked in his hyperactive voice.

"Hollow Bastion." The blonde said.

"You have a name?" Axel asked, putting his guitar back in the case. "Or should we call you Blonde-Haired Kid?"

"It's Roxas." Roxas replied. "And you are?"

"Demyx." Demyx introduced himself. "And this is Axel."

"I can introduce myself, Demy." Axel rolled his eyes at Demyx's hyperactive behaviour.

"What's your brother's name?" Demyx asked.

"Sora." Roxas said.

"So your name is just a re-arranged version of his with an added X?" Axel narrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Mom was too lazy to come up with a name for me since I was born after he was." Roxas said. "I hate her."

"Just for that?" Axel found this a little strange.

"And other things." Roxas said softly.

Axel figured that he shouldn't say anything more. Roxas clearly didn't want to talk about it and it wouldn't be a smart thing to bring up the discussion.

"What do you mean?" Demyx asked.

"Demyx..." Axel said in his warning voice.

Demyx looked at the redhead in confusion before he understood what was going on. Axel had a way of communicating his ideas without words. This was just his way of telling Demyx to drop the subject.

"So what classes do you have?" Axel asked Roxas, trying to ease up the awkward conversation.

"Second block I have..." Roxas fished his schedule out of his messenger bag. "Biology with Luxord."

"Oh, he's boring." Demyx groaned.

"Third I have World War II with Cid." Roxas said.

"Cid's a riot." Axel grinned. "I had him for Government. And I'm with you again."

"You have Cid for third block?" Roxas asked, brushing his hair from his eyes.

"Yep." Axel said. "What about fourth block?"

"Guitar IV with Xigbar." Roxas said.

"Nice!" Axel grinned. "Three classes with you! Lunch, too."

"Is that a good thing?" Roxas asked, clearly shocked by Axel's enthusiasm.

"I hope it is." Axel said. "You look so sad, Roxas."

"I'm always like this." Roxas said, drumming his fingers against the desk.

"Want to talk about it?" Axel asked. "I'm a great listener."

"No, I'm okay." Roxas shook his head.

Demyx watched the conversation between the two with interest. He'd never seen Axel act like this around anyone before, much less a guy. So what was Axel doing?

As the conversation turned into a discussion about guitars, Roxas looked over in Sora's direction. His twin was smiling mischievously at him, almost as if Sora knew something Roxas didn't. Roxas didn't really care. Maybe he _could_ be friends with Axel. As long as he didn't find out Roxas' secret.

**Ooh, what's up with Roxas....? I've never written Axel like this before. It's very strange... Let me know what you think. I'll hopefully update this sometime next week. I still have to work on ECHO and D&P. Reviews equal love!**

**next chapter: histories! and first classes**


	2. Forgotten Children

**Disclaimer: If I owned KH, there would be a LOT of differences.**

**Hallo! It's Xero! I don't usually update things this slowly. I had a plot change and I had to get it all straight in my head. But I think it's all straight now. ^_^ On with the deadly tale!**

"So why'd you guys move here?"

Xehanort was droning on about famous sociologists, sounding as monotonous as all get out. Demyx was taking notes, such a Demyx thing to do, but Roxas was looking kind of bored. Axel decided to use this to his advantage to find out a little about the blonde.

"Cloud got a job transfer." Roxas explained. "Well, sort of."

"Who's Cloud?" Axel frowned.

"My brother." Roxas said. "Sora and I live with Cloud and his boyfriend, Zack."

"That must be interesting." Axel nodded. "So what does Cloud do?"

"He owns a music store." Roxas replied. "Zack told him that Twilight Town needed a new shop, so Cloud took the opportunity."

"We_ do_ need some good music stores. The last good one went bankrupt a few years ago." Axel ran his fingers through his hair. "And I'm running out of guitar pics."

"We only have about a million in the back of the shop." Roxas smiled, making Axel's stomach flutter for some strange reason. "Zack's a drummer, so he takes care of all the drumming stuff. Cloud handles classical instruments and I usually get the guitars and stuff like that."

"Well, Demyx knows how to play the sitar." Axel said. "He can help with guitar stuff. He's been looking for a job for a while."

"Well, Cloud needs all the help he can get." Roxas said.

"Hey, I can help if you want me to." Axel offered. "Reno's been bugging me about a job for ages."

"I can talk to Cloud for you guys. We need all the help we can get right now." Roxas nodded.

"Has it only been the four of you?" Axel asked, tapping his lime green pencil on the desk impatiently.

"Yep." Roxas nodded, brushing his hair from the cerulean eyes.

"Then you guys sound like you could really use some help." Axel said.

At that point they were forced to pay attention, since Xehanort started to yell at Axel about starting to corrupt Roxas.

Axel had always been a bit of a troublemaker in school. In first grade, his class was instructed to make a diorama of the solar system. While other children used Styrofoam balls and coloured them different colours, Axel found rotten fruit and had drawn faces on them. Needless to say that he failed the assignment. It was later learned that part of Axel's hyperactive behaviour was because of the ADD, but most of it was because the redhead didn't really know how to act properly for a first grader. Most of his discipline came from Reno and Naminè, Axel's older sister, and Axel didn't see either of them very much.

There was a perfectly obvious reason why Axel didn't see his siblings a lot, but Axel didn't like to think of that. His childhood was certainly different than most kids' and he tried his best to forget about it. As far as he was concerned, coming to live with Reno was the best part of his life.

"You okay, Axel?"

Axel snapped out of his daydream and found Demyx's nose practically touching his. The redhead backhanded the faux-hawked teen, causing the latter to yelp in protest.

"What have I told you about that, Demyx?" Axel glared at the protesting teen. "What do you want, anyway?"

"It's time for second block." Roxas said, picking up his guitar case.

"Is it really?" Axel frowned, throwing his pencil into his bag. "Any homework?"

"Just to get the forms signed." Demyx said. "I'm gonna go find Kairi for Intro to Business!"

"You're taking Intro to Business?" Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Yep!" Demyx grinned before dashing off.

"Need help finding Luxord's class?" Axel turned to the blonde again and was quite surprised to find Sora with him. "When'd you get here, Sora?"

"Oh, Roxas told you my name?" Sora frowned. "And you are...?"

"This is Axel, Sora." Roxas said. "I have blocks three and four with him."

"Sounds good." Sora nodded. "I have to go find where the hell Environmental Studies is."

"Near the TV studio." Axel said. "Can't miss it."

"Oh." Sora looked somewhat surprised. "I think we passed the studio on the way here, didn't we, Roxas?"

"Yep." Axel nodded for the blonde. "I'd better get going. I'll see you third block, Roxas."

"Yeah, later, Axel." Roxas said as the redhead walked out of the room.

* * *

Reno figured that it would be a boring day at work. He'd restock shelves and work at the register all day. This was all until he got some interesting news around lunchtime.

He was restocking a shelf of copy paper when he felt a pair of arms behind him. Smiling, Reno turned around and found Rude was behind him.

"What is it, yo?" Reno asked, looking into Rude's dark eyes.

"Tomoyuri says there's a phone call for you." Rude replied.

"Did she say who it was, yo?" Reno pulled himself free from Rude's embrace.

"Nope." Rude shook his head.

"Okay." Reno sighed. "I'll be back in a bit, all right?"

"I know you will." Rude said as Reno left for the main office.

When Reno entered the office, he saw Tomoyuri holding the phone like it was infested with the plague. Tomoyuri was a bit of a germ freak, this much was common knowledge. It took Reno a little while to grow accustomed to her peculiar rituals like sanitizing office phones three times a day and plastic-wrapping the door handles.

"Who is it, Tomoyuri?" Reno asked.

"How should I know?" Tomoyuri shrugged as she handed Reno the receiver and left the office.

Reno stared after her for a few seconds before lifting the phone to his ear and saying, "Hello?"

"_Is that any way to greet your sister, Reno_?" Naminè never called at work. Something had to be wrong.

"Naminè?" Reno's steel-grey eyes became confused. "What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"_Why do you always assume something is wrong every time I call_?" Naminè asked.

"Because you never call any other time, yo!" Reno exclaimed.

"_Well, you'll be hearing from Vincent and me soon." _Naminè said _"And seeing us, too."_

"Wha?" Reno frowned. "What are you talking about, Naminè?"

"_Vincent and I are moving to Twilight Town_." Naminè was obviously happy about this.

"That's great, yo!" Reno grinned. "Where are you guys going to live down here, yo? Taking in Axel shot down the possibility of anyone else living with me."

"_Vincent's found a great townhouse on Moonlit Terrace." _Naminè responded.

"Wait...that's pretty close to our apartment." Reno frowned. "Did Vincent plan this on his own, yo?"

"_It was really cheap and it was the best one we looked at." _Naminè replied.

"Naminè, nothing's cheap here, yo." Reno said, running his fingers through his hair.

"_Well, it was cheap compared to the other places we went to_." Naminè answered.

"When's move-in day?" Reno asked. "Axel and I will help you guys move in."

"_Next Saturday." _Naminè said. "_Vincent can call you guys so you won't be waiting all day_."

"It would give Axel something to do, that's for sure, yo." Reno rolled his eyes.

"_How's he doing, anyway?" _Naminè asked. "_Has he gotten any better_?"

"He's about the same, yo." Reno shrugged, though he knew his sister couldn't see his actions. "What can you expect, though? He's doing better than most kids would in his situation."

"_I guess that's true_." Naminè said.

"Well, I gotta go, Naminè." Reno said. "Tomoyuri's probably going to come in and want to sanitize the phone again in a few minutes, yo."

"_Has she always been that insane?_" Naminè wondered.

"Probably." Reno said. "See you later, Naminè."

"_You too, Reno." _Naminè said before hanging up.

Hanging up the phone, Reno remained in the office, staring at the door, as if he expected someone to walk through it. He had a feeling that Naminè hadn't been completely honest with him. Naminè usually left something out when she was doing something drastic. She hadn't told anyone that she was marrying Vincent until a year after the fact. Reno didn't know what his sister's scheme was, but he was sure to find out soon enough.

* * *

"So, getting used to this place yet?"

Roxas and Axel were walking from their third block WWII class to the cafeteria, anxious to see what was on the menu for lunch. Cid had had quite an interesting time explaining the excitement of the Second World War to the class, the end result being most of the class falling asleep. Roxas remained the exception and stayed awake through the entire lecture, though Axel had to poke the blonde in the arm once or twice when he himself woke up for a few minutes.

"I guess so." Roxas nodded. "It's still so strange to me."

"Well, you can tell me all about Hollow Bastion in Guitar IV." Axel said.

"We have that together, don't we?" Roxas seemed to have forgotten. "So will the rest of your friends be like Demyx?"

"His boyfriend is like the exact opposite of him. Riku's pretty cool." Axel replied. "They won't make fun of you for being new or anything, if that's what you're afraid of."

"Is it that obvious?" Roxas asked.

"Just a little." Axel smiled. "Now let's get lunch. I think it's supposed to be deep dish pizza today."

It took quite a while for the two to get through the line. Pence had taken forever trying to find a pizza that didn't look mutated, which was a hard thing to do. By the time Roxas and Axel joined the rest of the group at the tables outside, nearly everyone else was there. Even Sora, which greatly surprised the blonde.

"Why are you here, Sora?" Roxas frowned, sitting down between Axel and Demyx.

"Demyx told me to sit here." Sora replied. "He practically forced me."

"Did not!" Demyx protested.

"You kind of did, honey." Zexion said from the other end of the table.

"So who are the new guys?" Riku asked, looking at Roxas and Sora in turn.

"Roxas and Sora." Axel pointed to each. "Got 'em memorized?"

"What, the people or the names?" Kairi grinned.

"Both would work." Axel smiled in response.

"So you like it here?" Riku asked the twins.

"It seems a lot like our old school." Sora answered.

"But I don't think the people will be as crazy." Roxas added.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Zexion wondered.

"Demyx is always this crazy, so don't mind him." Axel told Roxas and Sora.

"I'm not crazy, Axel." Demyx threw a French fry at the redhead.

"Yeah, you are, Dem." Kairi nodded.

"Well, the people I hung out with were crazy, but it was a good crazy." Roxas explained.

"Oi, where's Hayner?" Axel asked suddenly, biting into his pizza.

"He's with Seifer." Riku rolled his eyes.

"Can't leave his boyfriend for a second, can he?" Zexion sighed.

"I wonder if he's going to ditch us now." Kairi mused.

"Nah." Axel shook his head, sending the vermillion spikes in all directions. "Hayner wouldn't do that to us."

"Demyx didn't come back for a while after he got with Zexion." Riku pointed out.

"I wish I knew what was going on." Sora said.

"Don't worry about it." Kairi replied, taking a drink of her Gatorade. "It's all good."

"Is it now?" Axel raised an eyebrow.

"What are you planning now, Axel?" Demyx looked at the redhead in terror.

"You have no idea." Axel grinned.

"So what are the plans for the weekend?" Zexion asked the group at large.

"The week barely started!" Roxas exclaimed. "How are you planning for the weekend already?"

"Zexy likes to plan ahead." Demyx informed a confused Roxas.

"Stop calling me Zexy." Zexion glared at his boyfriend.

"But I can call you Zexy, right?" Riku said, the corners of his lips forming a smile.

"Oh, hell no!" Zexion exclaimed.

"New topic!" Demyx proclaimed.

"So what is it?" the twins asked together.

"Um...movies?" Kairi suggested.

"Riku, you still have to watch _A Knight's Tale_." Axel said, finishing his pizza.

"It looks stupid." Riku drank the rest of his Red Bull and smashed the can on the table.

"It's a good movie, Riku." Sora said

"And Larxene thinks so, too." Demyx nodded, as if this made a difference with anything.

"Larxene only watched it for Heath Ledger." Axel rolled his eyes. "Just like how she watched the _Lord of the Rings_ movies for Orlando Bloom and Elijah Wood."

"Who's Larxene?" Roxas frowned.

"A sadistic, dominating bitch." Zexion said.

"No, she's just-" Kairi started to say.

"A Nazi?" Riku finished.

"She's really bitchy to everyone." Axel told the twins, who looked rather perplexed.

"You know what I want to see?" Demyx asked randomly.

"Who knows?" Riku and Kairi said together.

"_Spirited Away."_ Demyx said.

"You've seen it eight times!" Axel yelled.

"Seriously?" Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"It was a good movie!" Demyx exclaimed.

Their argument was cut off by the bell ringing, signalling the end of lunch and the beginning of block four. Roxas followed Axel through the very crowded halls to the drama hallway for Guitar IV.

The classroom looked more like a teenager's bedroom than a classroom should. Band posters were everywhere with the bands ranging from classic rock like Fleetwood Mac and Queen to modern music like Simple Plan and Apocalyptica.

"Wow." Roxas said when he saw the room.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Axel smiled at Roxas' response.

"Who do you have with you, Axel?"

An older man approached the two, walking with more of a California swagger than anyone should use. One of his eyes was covered with an eye patch, but this somehow seemed to match his long hair that was tied back in a ponytail.

"Transfer student, Xigbar." Axel said. "Roxas."

"Well, glad to see you here, Roxas." Xigbar said, nodding toward the blonde. "I assume that you've taken Guitar I-III?"

"Yes." Roxas said.

"Excellent." Xigbar said, sounding very much like a hippie. "Well, you can just stick with Axel here and you'll figure out how things work."

"Sounds good to me." Axel grinned.

"So what do we do?" Roxas asked as Xigbar walked away.

"We play stuff." Axel pulled the blonde over to a corner of the room.

"We don't use books?" Roxas asked, pulling two chairs over.

"From IV and up, we don't use books." Axel explained as he pulled am obsidian guitar from the case. "Xigbar thinks that we should be able to ear-play songs by the fourth year."

"Isn't that hard?" Roxas asked.

"Not really." Axel shook his head. "Once you get used to it, it's really easy. Working out the stuff is the hard part."

"You might need to help me with that." Roxas said, taking out his own guitar, a dark red Ibanez.

"I don't think so." Axel shook his head. "You look like you'll be able to figure it out."

"If you say so." Roxas said, digging his pic out of the case.

"So do you know where everything is? In town, I mean." Axel asked as he started to play _The Wicked End._

"I think so." Roxas said. "Zack's been here before, so if I need anything, I can just ask him."

"What, you don't trust me?" Axel smiled, creating butterflies in Roxas' stomach.

"O-of course I do." Roxas stuttered.

"Sure." Axel was still smiling. "That's why you'd ask Zack."

"Because Zack is always at home with Cloud." Roxas said quickly. "And I don't even know your phone number or anything."

"We can fix that, you know." Axel said.

"I accidently left my phone at home." Roxas said apologetically.

"Well, bring it tomorrow." Axel said.

"If I can remember." Roxas shrugged.

Their conversation gradually changed into life in Hollow Bastion and how it differed from the life in Twilight Town. For some reason, Roxas felt differently around Axel. Sure, he knew what the feeling was. How could you not know? He just didn't want his emotions to be true.

**Oh, it will get interesting...*cackles maniaclly* don't know if that's spelled right...ah well. Yeah, I can write Axel with ADD really easily since I have ADD myself. Kinda sucks, but at least I can write it accuretly. anyway, reviews equal love!**

**next chapter: sora confronts roxas **


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